312 HISTORY OF BOTANY. 



The labours of Gessner in botany, both on ac- 

 count of the unfinished state in which he left the 

 application of his principles, and on account of the 

 absence of any principles manifestly applicable to 

 the whole extent of the vegetable kingdom, can 

 only be considered as ajprelude to the epoch in 

 which those defects were supplied. To that epoch 

 we now proceed. 



Sect. 2. Epoch of Ccesalpinm. Formation of a 

 System of Arrangement. 



IF any one were disposed to question whether 

 Natural History truly belongs to the domain of In- 

 ductive Science; whether it is to be prosecuted 

 by the same methods, and requires the same endow- 

 ments of mind as those which lead to the successful 

 cultivation of the Physical Sciences, the circum- 

 stances under which Botany has made its advance 

 appear fitted to remove such doubts. The first 

 decided step in this study was merely the construc- 

 tion of a classification of its subjects. We shall, I 

 trust, be able to show that such a classification in- 

 cludes, in reality, the establishment of one general 

 principle, and leads to more. But without here 



ont des fleurs et des fruits semblables se ressemblent par leurs 

 autres formes, et souvent aussi par leurs proprietes, et que quand 

 on rapproche ces plantes on obtient ainsi line classification 

 naturelle." I do not know if he here refers to any particular 

 passages of Gessner's work 



